Friday, October 12, 2007

Oh and peace broke out in the world

Helsingin Sanomat brings news (in Finnish) of cats and dogs living together - or, as they put it, of Jokerit supporters and the Hämeenlinna hockey arena settling their row.

It got started during last season's playoffs when a group of Jokerit supporters, displeased with the seating arrangements, took out their displeasure on the seats. The Rinkelinmäki folks responded by banning said fans and a few extra besides from the arena until they cough up 5'000 euros.

Now JF-Club, a Jokerit fan club, has agreed to pay for a portion of the damages, although the figure is well short of the demanded sum. Rinkelinmäki, for its part, will once again be open even to Jokerit supporters.

I think these particular Jokerit fans are easily identifiable. They went to Jyväskylä last year for a game that was postponed, and caused no end of trouble at petrol stations on the way home before allegedly trashing a bar owned by the Hells Angels when they got back to Helsinki.

they travel on buses and get their tickets directly from the club, so it would take a very different modus operandi for them to beat the ban.

That said, I think they add a lot to the sport in this country, and they make the atmosphere much better.

Yeah, the fans in question are organized, which makes banning them easier - as a group. I believe the ban didn't apply to individual Jokerit fans and even if it had, it couldn't have been enforced with any reliability.